Eight of us, all guests, sat at the table and chatted freely, with the indispensable hubble-bubble water-pipe circulating from mouth to mouth (not mine). Cigarettes are unknown in this country side.
The father of the bridegroom, busied about many details, came in and uttered a polite word every now and then. The young bridegroom, age (the average of marriage in China), with refined face, had a decided don't know where 'e are'' look about him, as he wandered, with flushed cheeks, in and out. Before long there entered an uncle of his, looking quite fine in his soft felt hat (foreign shape, and kept on all the while) and his good clothes; and in this guise I recognized my stalwart boatman of the forenoon. But all things were elevated above everyday life to-night, and he among them.
At length, there fell on our ears the distant wail of the pipers, and the altogether energetic bangs the gong—indeed, one wondered whether it would arrive uncracked And now all was flurry within she house. A sort of magazine gun on pole was fetched from a dark corner. and the tubes filled with "bomb" crackers, and a short strit of smaller crackers fixed to a rod: mine host did not need many, to avert evil influences. Once Christ ians, the Chinese are freed from all superstitions fears. The red candles were duly lit, and stuck into the half-turnips. A doubled pei-we (Chinese wadded bedding) was spread on the floor in front of the table. behind which, facing the door the Chinese preached and I stood.
The Bride's Arrival.
"Coming! coming! the new girl' is confine!" shouted the children out on the threshing floor: while the adult neighbours and youths and maidens crowded the: two sides of the room, leaving an
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.